Interpretation Walk with Barret Miller

          On Friday May 18th, Barret Miller came and helped us out with our interpretation skills. We went over and discussed the stations that we are going to be doing on Tuesday May 29th and Thursday May 31st. In the classroom he went through the stations with us and tweaked a few things on the program as well. When my group was going over our station, he suggested that we play a different game that would hopefully be easier to explain to the kids called Plankton, Perch, Pike and Planaria. He also suggested that we try to provide more examples and relate to the kids more often so they better understand he concept. Also to get them thinking about what things they already know about in the wild. Some things that Mr. Miller told the class altogether is not to worry about how the kids will act because if you speak clear, slow, and get to the point, they will pay attention and not get as bored. Once we had finished going over all of stations, us and Mr. Miller all walked down to the wetlands and took a little tour around. 

          Mr. Miller started off talking to us about how to bring the kids into your zone where everyone can hear what you are saying and also what way to stand. We are to stand with the sun in our eyes, the wind in our faces and to speak loud and clear if it is a windy day. We were also told on some good places to stand where for example if it were cold and windy, to find a hillside, building or trees to block the wind. Also, for the Adapt or Die station, which my group will be doing the second day, to get rid of the game and do a little tour of different spots around the wetland and not to go into too much depth when we are talking. Finding areas where you can see that activity has taken place such as where a beaver has chewed down some trees can be a good place to stop and let the kids explore how things are done in the wild while you are briefly explaining. 

          Once we got to my station and where it was going to be, he talked more about what he had said to us in the classroom and showed us how it is to be done. We also played the new game he showed us and showed us how to explain and play it smoothly. It was way easier to play than the other game we originally had. We learned that having a sound machine of some sort is an easier way to get the kids to listen rather than trying to talk over them. I learned that using popsicle sticks instead of colourful chips is better for the environment if some of them are lost in the grass, because they are degradable. The one thing that we will really have to make sure to always be aware of will be the birds that have made a nest in the watershed. We will have to make sure that the kids are leaving them alone and not becoming agitated. 

          After we were finished giving the tour around the wetland, we walked back to the school and Barret Miller asked us if there was anything that we liked that would better improve our interpretation skills and make our station a lot more fun, once he had spoke to us about them. He shared some stories to us about him as an interpreter and a few were pretty funny and he also said some things about different types of bugs and animals and what they do to get food. Overall, I was very glad to have had Barret Miller come and help all of us out with our interpreting skills and hope that everyone will be successful when the day comes. 

Interpretation with Barret Miller

Tomorrow, Barret Miller is coming down to our wetland and helping us out for being an interpreter for when the grade 4’s come down to the wetlands. The first day I am at ‘Producers, Consumers and Decomposers’ station and at ‘Adapt or Die’ the second day. Some questions that I will ask Mr. Miller when he is here is;

Producers, Consumers and Decomposers 
1. How can I tell if the kids are taking in information about what I am explaining?
2. How can I include the topic into the way I am explaining the game, and help them follow if they are not understanding?

Adapt or Die 
1. How can I keep the kids entertained and following what I am talking about after playing a game?
2. How can I keep the kids listening and like me, if they are fooling around and not caring?

River Paddling

Today we went canoeing out on the river. My canoe group was Owen, Matthew, and I and we all started out at the bottom of the Rivers dam and went to Mr. Mayor’s house. I was sitting in the middle of the canoe so I wasn’t doing that much, but I was pointing things out, helping steer, and stop. I learned why it is important to watch out for sweepers and strainers and big rocks in the water, and was able to watch Mr. Colsen and Miriam rescue Nathan and Jayden after they got stuck in the rapids. My group and I got very lucky a few times out on the river by almost hitting some big rocks and maintaining a good position through some rapids when people were hitting us from behind. There were some spots on the river where we had to get out and portage our canoe but the rest of the way was fairly calm. My favourite part of the trip was when we had to ferry and going through the small rapids. Overall, I thought that it was very fun especially when you have a good group and can’t wait till June 8th!

Water Testing in Wetlands

On Friday, we had a lady come to our school and we tested the water in our Rivers Wetland. The depth of our wetland is 0.762 meters and is 14.69 degrees C. We checked the amount of dissolved oxygen that was in the water, the ammonia level, the turbidity, the phosphate level, and the pH level. We went through procedures to test these levels and used a transparency tube and a sonde machine. The Sonde machine was a digital recorder that would record and determine what the water temperature was, what the pressure of the water was, what the conductivity was, and many more. There was a tube like device that was in the pail full of water from the wetland, connected to the recording device which determined different levels. The average pH (phenol red) level for a wetland is 7 and ours was 8.21.
Examples:
Ammonia: 0.05
Dissolved oxygen: 10.6
Phosphate: 0
Conductivity: 218
Transparency: 105.6
Turbidity: 3.55